Edina to consider city gun regulations, despite state preemption
The Edina City Hall chambers were filled with red Oct. 22 as members of Moms Demand Action listened to the Edina City Council discuss the possibility of adopting gun violence prevention ordinances.
The conversation in Edina follows the introduction of an assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines ban in Saint Paul. The city of Saint Paul intends to propose an ordinance which regulates firearms, specifically large-capacity magazines, binary triggers, serial numbers for ghost guns and all firearms in sensitive public places. The Saint Paul ordinance recognizes that state law currently preempts local regulation of firearms, ammunition and its related components, so the proposed ordinance “is designed to take effect only upon the repeal, amendment, or judicial invalidation of state preemption laws that currently prohibit local regulation of firearms.”
Knowing that a ban would be preempted, councilmembers discussed creating two ordinances: One would include items that are not likely to be contested such as stronger safe storage laws, and the other could resemble the one proposed in Saint Paul, explicitly prohibit the sale and possession of assault weapons, high capacity magazines and ghost guns.
"I think that now is the time for us to put our foot down and say this is what is important," Councilmember Kate Agnew said.
